IPIA sets date for key networking event
More than 130 print professionals are expected to attend the IPIA Annual Networking Lunch on June 18th in Birmingham
Across the 11-day event, drupa will be championing the next generation of print and packaging
A number of initiatives and features will run across drupa from May 28th to June 7th to champion the next generation of print and packaging.
The largest print exhibition in the world, drupa is using its platform to partner with vocational colleges, institutes of higher education, and academies to “pique young people’s interest for the industry, give them a stage to present their projects, and a platform for growing their career networks”.
One area where the next generation will be championed is the Touchpoint Packaging Forum with the area featuring winning designs from the epda Future Packaging Awards by the European Brand and Packaging Design Association.
Through this, innovative packaging concepts will be showcased with the awards ceremony also being held during drupa.
The work of young design talent will also be demonstrated in collaboration with Koenig & Bauer, Landa, and Mondi. Students at the international school of design NABA, Nuova Accademia delle Belle Arti, based in Milan and Rome; the Zuyd University Maastricht; and the Academy of Fine Arts Warsaw, will showcase their projects.
The students of all three universities have developed innovative product and packaging solutions with these partners and their work will be presented at the Touchpoint Packaging forum along with ‘making-of films’.
Exhibiting partner, Esko Graphics has provided the universities with software for the projects and mapped the work results so they can be experienced through 3D goggles in a virtual store on the booth (Hall 3, Booth B31).
Other competitions to be running during the show include a poster competition under the motto ‘The future of the print industry’ set by drupa and the Fritz-Henßler vocational college Dortmund (FHBK). The winners of the competition will be chosen at drupa and the works have been presented at several institutes of higher education throughout Germany prior to drupa.
Another competition is the Cloud Sinapse Packaging Productivity Contest organised by drupa and associations including DFTA, INTERGRAF, IC International Circle, Engineers Europe, and global printing press manufacturers, and packaging groups.
Young talents from educational institutions and companies were invited to take part in the international WorldSkills competition via the cloud with printing simulators. The task involved developing a folding carton and flexible packaging for a virtual brand using sinapse simulators for offset sheetfed printing and CI flexo printing.
The two finalists and their coaches have won a trip to drupa 2024 where they will present their designs live. They will also receive a one-year subscription to the simulator of their choice.
Elsewhere in the exhibition and the Touchpoint Textile forum will present work in print and textile by young, talented designers and students.
Mitwill Textiles has been running a ‘drupa – textile design talents’ competition with the designs being presented at drupa. The winning entrant will secure themselves a sought-after internship at Mitwill Textiles.
Students of Sigmaringen University will present their industry and research project at the textile micro-factory at Touchpoint Textile (Hall 4, Booth B30). Through this, the students will demonstrate the potential within a micro-factory in times of growing demand for personalisation and increased logistic challenges.
Headed by Prof. Martin Breuer, brand and communication students at Düsseldorf-based AMD Akademie Mode & Design have been working on a paper artwork design for drupa representing “anamorphosis”.
Eight teams have produced a design object consisting of 102 individual square surfaces (pixels), and a total size of 11 x 8 metres. Housed in the South Entrance, the project forms an interactive hotspot where visitors and exhibitors can be photographed and have their image projected onto the artwork.
“For us, this installation is a unique opportunity to reach people and offer them an experience which they probably haven’t enjoyed before,” says communication designer Theresa Meier about her design.
“The anamorphosis installation ANALOGUE DIGITALISIERUNG, which means ‘analogue digitalisation’, is supposed to fuse the worlds of the analogue and the digital together. Paper becomes a scree, people become part of the installation and the drupa claim ‘we create the future’, is thus made visible”.
Finally, drupa will be holding its ‘drupa next age’ special forum which will provide a point of contact for start-ups and young enterprises as well as established companies.
Within this area (Hall 7.0), the media university Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart will offer a point of contact to alumni, students, and trainees along with the International Circle of Educational Institutes for Graphic Media Technology and Management.
The idea for this area is to provide a space where potential future experts and students can exchange ideas and network with future employers and explore concept designs and best cases.
Drupa 2024 will run from Tuesday, May 28th to Friday, June 7th at Messe Düsseldorf.
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